Taxi Driver Online

whatever happened to the N.W.T.A. streetcar this is me

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You know, the association that * collected your £20 saying that the
money was to fight the OFT and deregulation; the one that promised to seek legal advice as to the implications of a cab and plate being seized and sold by the courts in Liverpool; the one that promised that by paying £20 it would go into the areas that needed help?
We collected many thousands of pounds, I should, of course, know, I was one of the original committee. I left the committee when the battle with the OFT was over, since then I have tried my very best to ensure that the promises made were kept, but this has been difficult if not impossible because the NWTA is now the NTTG an alleged national group.

You couldn't make the rest of this sad story up. During the past eleven months I have contacted different members of the NTTG committee asking them questions, simple questions such as: When is the next meeting being held? When is the constitution being submitted to the members for their acceptance? What is happening in other areas? The answer is invariably the same, "/ don't know, there hasn't been a meeting, nobody is telling me anything!" Bearing in mind this is supposed to be a national association, it sounds like a sad national joke to me.

You must of course remember that this committee is not the original one set up to combat the OFT figures such as myself, Gary Woodward, Tommy Mclntyre and Charles Oakes have long since disappeared. This committee seems to have been elected by the few, as the members certainly didn't elect it. I contacted the secretary asking for information and was told, "/ cannot help you, I'm not being paid to do this job." It sounds like a comedy, unfortunately it's not it's the truth. All I asked was for a copy of the constitution and when the next meeting was.

Certain words spring to mind, these do not include 'professional' and 'well run.' I cannot blame all of the committee for being so apparently useless to my simple requests; they appear to be as much in the dark as myself and fellow members. Indeed, things I have said seem to have been twisted. It has been suggested by some that I have a problem with where the money has gone, this is certainly not the case, and I would wish it to be known that I have every faith in the treasurer John McDowell.

Where I have a problem with the NTTG is that they were approached by a non-member
association asking for help, their local authority were going to deregulate, the association wanted to use the Jacobs Report, paid for by NWTA/ NTTG members, the association were told no. I was under the impression we were going to help the areas that needed our help, unfortunately for this area, it wasn't the case.

Warrington was a member association that asked for help, but what did it get? The NTTG met with the licensing department in Warrington without advising the local trade of what they were doing.

When I was on the committee, I recall the committee ordering the chair on two separate occasions to seek legal advice as to the ramifications of a cab and plate being seized and sold by the courts in Liverpool. It would appear that the simple request was ignored; obviously the question needs to be asked as to why bother with a committee if its instructions are going to be ignored.
When the OFT report was made public the National state of play between regulated and deregulated local authorities stood at 55% deregulated and 45% regulated. At the time of writing the figures stand at 68% deregulated and 32% regulated, over half of the regulated authorities have yet to carry out surveys.
Rhyl in North Wales this year deregulated, as did Fylde to our north, obviously important information that should have been passed onto members, yet we received nothing. Are we operating with a secret society here? On a need to know basis, and guess who doesn't need to know! You, the mortal member

Other bodies have sent member associations information as to the level of deregulation taking place, they've even used this very magazine to pass on their misgivings about the manner in which it is occurring, yet the NTTG has remained silent on the issue.
Other associations meet regionally every quarter, discussing matters of national
importance as well as local issues, when did the NTTG last meet? Members of other
associations are sent mail once or twice per month, yet as a paid up NTTG member I
have received zero. Thissituation is treating every NTTG member with contempt, nothing more nothing less.

I almost forgot to tell you the best bit! How's this for a cute little trick? If you disagree with the way things are done, they merely approach someone else in your area and ask them to be a representative, they did this in Sefton. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have heard of loyalty and friendship which we have in Sefton and many other areas.

Reading through the recent letter that was sent to all associations that paid money in, I get the feeling that we are being taken for fools again, at the long overdue AGM members are to ratify the new Constitution. Call me a little old fashioned,'1 but before any decent association can vote on a constitution, binding them to subscriptions or whatever, would it not be rather polite to let that association have sight of the thing first? It hardly takes a huge amount of brains to realise that many people at the AGM will have to consult their members before agreeing to it!

Indeed, when you consider that the majority of members of the NTTG come from the North West, does it not strike anyone as strange that a venue has been chosen at the other side of the M62 in Yorkshire?

The main problem I have with the NTTG is the fact it is being built on money that was intended to fight the OFT, it wasn't donated to form a national body. When it was formed the NWTA advertised itself as a neutral association, an umbrella group, associations were invited in regardless of their national affiliation be they T&G, NTA or NPHA, the goal was fighting the O.F.T
Trevor jones sefton

You have raised great many points here, perhaps Mrs Conolly could reply to the ones directed at the door of the NTTG. I assume this letter of yours will be published in the next issue of Taxitalk magazine, if it hasn't already?

In respect of restricted councils it is easy to see why no trade body had that information and those who did have access to it were not prepared to acknowledge it. That doesn't surprise me in the least because the only reason you or anyone else had that information was by virtue of TDO.

I have some sympathy with your disenchantment on the issues you point out but perhaps you can now see why others have the same disenchantment on similar issues.

The world is not a perfect place and it is plain to see that you have become disenchanted with an organisation that has its agenda set by those who hold the reigns and not by the rank and file. This scenario sounds oh so familiar.

Regards

JD

Mr T, we have a private hire company located near to our evening/night rank, some customers will want to use thier service and some will yours, but I tell you what I am glad they are thier because I would not want that "type" of customer, you will have a better kind of customer.

well if I'm going out on the drink for an evening, i'd certainly rather throw up all over a jag or merc than one of our members TX's

Captain Cab[/list]

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

DELTA is the biggest p/h/com in England and boasts that it is the biggest in the E.U.
we also have seaforth who have 350 cars.
Now Delta wants to grow bigger and bigger ,you can call this Greed or Entrepeneurism depending where you stand.
but Delta is a Sefton p/h/com with sefton licenced cars charging at sefton p/h hire rates,so they are under cutting the Liverpool taxi and p/h ,they build up their work by being cheap, and end up with all the bare Iron merchants,
So what do you end up with ? drivers doing long hours and lots of miles for little money , only trouble is insurance is not cheap , cars are not cheap , derv is not cheap and most importantly rents are not cheap, so whether the driver has a good week or bad Delta gets paid ,You could say that the sefton private hire drivers are subsidising the fares, Keep your rates down , Keep your drivers hungry, thats the way to make sure you cover the work and build up your business, Who walks away with all the money? not the driver, but mores the point, how do you make it fair..mrT..

Well Mr T i once decribed the relations ship between hackneys and Sefton P H, as war you said " war what war ". I dont think you can begin describe how ruthless delta are . Perhaps if over the years , Sefton and Liverpool had no restriction on hackney numbers. But instead had stringent quality controls on both hackney and P H . then the hackney trade in sefton, would not be in a terminal state . Perhaps may be, you would have a fleet of 100 cabs . But restrictions , the very thing that you want to keep, is the very thing that has let delta thrive and destroy . People on the wirral have seen the big picture but i am afraid its to late for us. You mention the N T T G this organisation is only about one issue . keeping restriction , now that Liverpool is safe for the moment , i dout Joanne can be bothered , getting of the beach . Why should she shes used you . Shes got what she wanted . Start you own organisation M T A . mersey side taxi assosiation because there is no one representing you me or the hackney trade . STREETCAR.

aww you must be my kindred spirit

Captain Cab

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

streetcar ..mate I am not at war with anyone,except with the sub-humans that put bombs on trains mrT..

Mr T P H in Sefton have well and truely got you in there sights . Do You run a radio circuit ? .If so advertise, fight back dont roll over like Poland and France. You have got the dosh . Go in to P H stop this mad man befor he takes over the world . Who needs N T T G . When you were on the committee, you wanted to seek legal advice on the ramifications of cab and plates being seized and sold by the courts . No wonder it was ignored, it could have undermined the very process of selling cabs and plates . I bet joanne nearly choked on her champagne. So was it you, who was ignored ? , because you didnt agree with the way thing were being done, then they asked someone else to be the rep . You must have new the main lazy parasites , aways get there own way . Spoilt toads that they are . streetcar.